Navarro, Robeniol help OCC close in on crown

IRVINE – It has been an incremental grind to the verge of an Orange Empire Conference title for the Orange Coast College baseball team.

Along the way, sophomore second baseman J.T. Navarro has faced an uphill climb of his own.

In Tuesday’s 2-1 win at Irvine Valley, Navarro surpassed a personal plateau to help the Pirates move within one win of at least a share of the conference crown with two OEC games left.

Navarro went five for five, including a two-run double in the seventh inning that proved to be the difference for the Pirates (30-8, 15-4 in conference), ranked No. 2 in the state.

Navarro, a second-team all-conference performer last season, when he hit a team-best .370, raised his average 27 points Tuesday, allowing him to eclipse the .300 mark for the first time all season.

Navarro dug a hole by starting the season zero for 14, and was nine for 42 at the end of February (.214). He climbed to .289 by mid-April and reached .298 on April 18.

With his second hit Tuesday, he went from .297 to .302, and ended the day at .318.

“In my eyes, I was just mortified with the first half of the year I had,” Navarro said. “These [teammates] were picking me up all year, so it’s good to pick them up one time.”

Navarro drove a double into the gap in left-center field to break a scoreless tie with one out in the seventh.

The 2-0 lead was just enough to allow sophomore starting pitcher Kyle Robeniol to improve to 5-0. Robeniol scattered six hits in seven shutout innings, striking out four and walking one. He threw a first-pitch strike to 22 of 27 batters to lower his earned-run average from 2.59 to 2.33.

“He was going after them,” Navarro said of Robeniol. “He had all his pitches working. When he gets the ball, I just know he’s going to give us a bulldog start.”

Robeniol threw an economical 89 pitches, but was spent, Altobelli said.

Austin Moore started the eighth inning for OCC, but exited after a four-pitch walk and two errors, the latter his own bobble of a sacrifice-bunt attempt that left runners at the corners.

Sophomore Blair Lewis, a bounce-back from Pitt, surrendered a line-drive single by Cole Joy to cut the lead in half. But Lewis induced a foul pop and a 5-4-3 double play (with a masterful Navarro turn at second), to end the threat.

Lewis then stranded the tying run at first in the ninth to record his fourth save.

With the victory, OCC maintained a one-game lead on Riverside. The Pirates close the season with two more against IVC (17-21, 5-14), on Thursday at OCC and Friday on the Lasers’ diamond.

Riverside won a home game against Santa Ana on Tuesday. The Tigers, who won two of three against OCC to earn the tiebreaker, venture to Santa Ana on Thursday at 2 p.m., then close out on Friday at home against the Dons.

“J.T. had a great game,” Altobelli said of Navarro, who notched his first career five-hit day. “[Even during the struggle], he has been productive, scrapping, laying down bunts, slapping hits to the right side with two strikes and not trying to do too much.”

Sophomore third baseman Nolan Powers was three for four with a double, a run and a stolen base, while sophomore designated hitter Ramiro Velasco was two for three to bolster the Pirates’ 14-hit attack.

Orange Empire Conference

Orange Coast 2, Irvine Valley 1

SCORE BY INNINGS

OCC 000 000 200 – 2 14 2

IVC 000 000 010 – 1 8 0

Robeniol, Moore (8), Lewis (8) and Teel; Reynolds, Solis (9) and Gaynor. W – Robeniol, 5-0. L – Reynolds, 4-5. Sv – Lewis (4). 2B – Velasco (OCC), Jacobson (IVC), Hussung (OCC), Navarro (OCC), Powers (OCC).

barry.faulkner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5